Properties of Merit 'crossed the line'
Allentown Morning CallBy Darryl R. Isherwood and Josh DrobnykOctober 21, 2008
A
nonprofit with ties to Democratic congressional candidate Sam Bennett
may have jeopardized its tax exempt status when it reached out to
Bennett's campaign for help in organizing a news conference.
The Oct. 3 news conference was called by Properties of Merit Board
President Jim Molchany to defend the charity against attacks by
Bennett's opponent, Republican Charlie Dent. Dent had derided the nonprofit in a television ad and Molchany had sought to highlight the organization's accomplishments.
Bennett campaign manager Josh Levin indicated the campaign's
communications director, Gary Ritterstein, wrote a news advisory for
the group on his own time after Molchany approached the two staffers at
an outside event asking for help organizing the news conference.
Bennett did not return a call for comment. Levin said Bennett had no knowledge of the conversation.
In a voice mail to a Properties of Merit board member, Bennett insisted, ''I had nothing to do with it.''
According to Internal Revenue Service rules governing nonprofits, by engaging Bennett's staff to participate, Molchany may have put the organization at risk.
''Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of
positions [verbal or written] made on behalf of the organization in
favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly
violate the prohibition against political campaign activity,'' the IRS
restriction states.
''That is the cardinal rule – you just can't get involved in
campaigns,'' said Larry Ottinger, president of the Center for Lobbying
in the Public Interest, which works with charities to boost their
effectiveness. ''You have to be strictly nonpartisan. What they did
seems like it crossed the line.''
Reached Monday, Molchany said he only asked for advice on calling a news conference and had no knowledge of any news advisory.
''If it did happen, I wish I knew how it happened,'' Molchany said
Monday. ''This is not what we are involved in. We are nonpolitical. We
have Republicans and Democrats in our organization. It is very possible
I asked how do I go about sending out a press [release] and he took it
on himself to do something inappropriate.''
Bennett apparently defended herself and the organization in a voice
mail message to a Properties of Merit board member, who forwarded it to
the Dent campaign. In the message, which Dent's campaign released to
The Morning Call on Monday, Bennett said, ''I just got word of this
press conference and all this stuff going on. I had nothing to do with
this. I want to point out very vociferously that I have worked many
hours to make sure that there is a firm firewall between Properties of
Merit and the campaign. And this is the first that firewall apparently
got broken. Sounds to me like Jim must have approached my staff without
me knowing, particularly a very young press guy in my office, who I
have to have a conversation with -- not a happy conversation. And Jim
must have asked for help in putting together a press release for
something.''
Reached Monday, Bennett did not deny the authenticity of the voice mail
or that her staffer had written the advisory, but instead attacked Dent
for what she called a ''smear'' campaign.
''Now, people are using personal messages to score political points.
Voters are sick of all the news stories that politicize and avoid the
actual issues. That's exactly what our campaign is working to change,''
she said in a printed statement.
The Dent camp wasted no time in renewing attacks on Bennett and the
charity she founded to recognize homeowners for keeping up their
properties.
''A line has been crossed between what is right and what is wrong;
important rules appear to have been ignored for political
convenience,'' the campaign said in a release.
Whether Properties of Merit faces ramifications from the incident remains to be seen.
Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the
campaign's involvement in the news conference may be grounds for the
organization to lose its tax-exempt status.
She said the IRS has beefed up its efforts to punish political
involvement by charities, but has limited resources to enforce its
rules.
''It is hard to say whether [the organization] would really end up getting into trouble,'' Palmer said. http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-ag_quote-a.6637495oct21,0,6937639.story